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Chapter Four
Previously in Chapter Three Prologue - Doubles Troubles Deep within the hidden Thayan Enclave in Waterdeep, the three cloned adventurers Defective Diva, Malformed Melech and Verminous Vohrun lie strapped to a series of operating tables as the Red Wizard agent Octavious administers the latest in a string of treatments designed to prolong their short expected lives. A knock on the door draws Octavious out of the room for a conversation in the hallway with the head of the enclave, Manus Kost. A moment later a large white rat quietly pushes the door open before scurrying under the tables. The cracked door allows the Cloned Three to hear the remainder of the wizards conversation. Manus indicates that the Hamun Kost has made his move again the original Diva, Melech and Vohrun and will soon have the Arcane Cypher. Manus then states that he depart for Lyn Armal to meet with a Countess Sansuri before ordering Octavious to dispose of the no-longer useful clones. Octavious pokes his head back into the room and cheerfully tells the three that he needs to retrieve one of their ministrations from his office and will return shortly. Aware of the limited time they have Vohrun manages to slip loose from his bindings and frees the others with a small knife he finds on the table. The three arm themselves as best as they can, Vohrun with a knife, Diva with a heavy glass bottle, and Melech with the summoned shadow of the sword Blackrazor. The three of them descended upon their jailer, the Thayan soldier Epson, who was dozing in the hall. He was dispatched in a few scant seconds, unable to cry for help or draw his blade before being overcome. The three ventured out into the central hall of the complex, taking a moment to peer into nearby darkened rooms before making their way to a raging wall of fire, seemingly burning without fuel blocking their path forward. Vohrun used a spell to temporarily suspend the enchantment, allowing the three of them to duck unharmed before the flames sealed the path back behind them. Recognizing the portion of the complex they found themselves in the three observed the Cloning facility from the shadows but opted not to engage the wizards working there or the Thayan captain drilling her undead servitors in the open area. Instead they let themselves into another nearby chamber finding a bare room, occupied only by a massive suit of armor. This construct made no move to stop them as they ventured across the room. Instead it simply observed their passing keeping a methodical eye on them as they passed through. When Melech went to open the far door the Shield Guardian noted that “The Master’s office was by invitation only”. Beside the warning, however it made no move to physical restrict them from continuing on. In the next chamber the cloned three found Octavious's office, where he was busily preparing some concoction at a work table across the room. Melech crept forward towards the mage but as he did an alarm sounded, taking the form of numerous animated mouths forming along the perimeter of the walls, each one emitting a single low tone, together forming a discordant cacophony, causing Octavious to spin around. Octavious quickly dropped any pretense that he was not preparing for the clones death. After a quick verbal sparring the wizard tried to escape by turning invisible. Melech opened a gateway to a distant far realm, flooding the room with a freezing inky blackness while Vohrun instituted an area of silence to foil the wizard. Octavius reappeared a moment later tucked in between his bookcases and summoned a massive ghostly hand to envelope and crush Melech. Simultaneously the shield guardian burst through the adjacent door sending wood and stone flying. The automaton quickly descended upon vohrun, pummeling him badly with massive steel fists. Diva charged the wizard while Melech reached for Vohrun’s hand, once they made contact Melech used Thunderstep to appear beside Octavius with Vohrun, leaving a blast of thunder to batter the spectral hand and guardian. Suddenly surrounded the Thayan made an attempt to control Melech’s thoughts before Diva summoned a blast of energy that sent him sprawling across the room unconscious, ending his control of his defenders. Defective Diva rushed to Octavious to prevent him from expiring. As Melech and Vohrun restrained and strip-searched the wizard Diva poured through his desk to find a decanter of brandy which she quickly consumed. Sated for the moment she rifled through the contents of the desk finding a number of oddities such as: * A list of regulars at the Jade Jug and their known mistresses or consorts; * Scrawled musings on potential locations of the “High Holdfast” and conjecture about the nature of the weapon someone named Sansuri claims it contains; * Several broadsheets with headlines about lost ships along the Sword Coast; * A map of the presumed extent of ancient Giant kingdom of Ostaria based on known ruins; * A wooden rack of 40 stoppered flasks containing hair labeled with names. Most are unknown to the three but a few stand out to the three, including Manus Kost, Hamun Kost, Diva Flinthelm, Melech (Last name unknown), Vohrun Deepshale, Dagult Neverember and Olivia Falcrest Melech meanwhile mutilates the wizard by carving his true allegiances onto his forehead before recovered a large pearl, an obsidian token and a ruby amulet from Octavious unconscious body. Frustrated by their lack of a clear path and missing her connection to Berronar Truesilver Defective Diva attempts to contact the entity that has haunted her dreams since her return from White Plume Mountain. She hears the distant crashing of waves, the cawing a gull and a whispered voice calling out “Find me in the sea”. When her vision concludes she billows several gallons of briny ocean water from her mouth, drenching the desk. Departing the office the three carried Octavious to the wall of fire before rousing him. After a brief conversation, the three conclude that killing the wizard would be fruitless given the potential for him to have doubles prepared. The three knock him unconscious and continue looking for the means to escape the complex, and perhaps revenge themselves along the way. They enter one of the side chambers, finding within an odd creature hunched in front of an arcane machine. Crackling electricity arcs between a pair of brass pillars, seeming supplied by six glass tubes that each contain an entity comprised of bluish white electrical energy. The hunched beast resembles one the original three found months earlier in the cavern below Tresendar Manor and seems transfixed by a small window of light formed where the lighting arcs together. The creature sat upon a pile of scattered papers, the products of it’s mad scrawlings. It paid the intruders little attention, even as Diva peruses the creatures notes. Among the multitude of languages and scripts she finds a legible string of text stating: “The Broken Dwarven Miner sees a fellow member of the chain gang collapse from exhaustion and be promptly be devoured by an obsidian hound with a flaming maw”. The three tried to interrogate the creature but the conversation was less than enlightening. It argued with itself but did manage to review that its purpose is was “predictive analytics”. Satisfied that the creature was important to the Thayans, Melech struck it down. Curious about the lighting aperture Diva attempted to reach into it, after using a gift of her new unknown deity to shield herself. Upon making contact with the aperture diva sees a quick succession of scenes: “The Terrified Ship’s Captain sees a tentacle lash out from the storm and wrap around the mast before snapping it like a twig” “The Quiet Hateful Drow listens as his fellows argue over a map of the deep-roads discussing best route to Gauntlgrym” “The Proud Bedine nomad pulls the sword across the throat of the last of the spies. The great Blue Wyrm nods in approval.” The party moved on to the eastern portion of the complex, finding a large chamber dominated by a number of fresh corpses laid atop stone tables. As the three pushed into the chamber the found a trio of doppelgangers observing a number of portraits mounted on the wall, their features slowly shifting to match the figures in the paintings. Still looking to disrupt the Thayan’s efforts Melech used a potent spell to torment their minds and disorient the creatures. After the initial salvo the creatures did not last long against the three’s assault. Searching through the room the three found their equipment as well as dozens of sets of clothing of all manner of styles, both common and fine, apparently serving as a cache of disguises. Venturing through another door the clones found a round room with a free-floating arched gate. It was a circular silver ring suspected by gold-chased supports on either side and was inscribed with a flowing script reminiscent of drops of water. Placing the pearl found on Octavious into a depression on the ring caused it to spin in place rapidly. As it spun faster the ring gradually blurred into a silver orb. The orb drew in the clones and as the passed through they quickly fell hard onto a rough wooden walkway in the middle of a ramshackle shanty town overlooking a set of docks perched in quiet still water. When they looked toward the sky instead of stars they saw a cavernous ceiling dotted with stalactites arched above. While rising and gaining their bearing they sensed a presence behind them. Turning they saw a Beholder wearing a massive eyepatch over its central eye. It assessed the clones for a moment before snarling “It’s not much of a crew but it’ll do in a pinch” . Category:Story